This "virtual newspaper for an aquatic world" contains musings, science, facts and opinions-both profound and mundane-about the River region, its people and natural resources, and their nexus to the Washington, DC scene.
Comments and other written contributions are always appreciated.

Friday, August 3, 2012

Mississippi River Basin Water Resource News for the Week

~Virtual Newspaper for an Aquatic World~

NOAA Scientists Measure Small Gulf Hypoxic Zone; Link Size Reduction to Drought Conditions
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's ("NOAA's") National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (or NCCOS) announced on July 27 that its scientists had observed the fourth smallest hypoxic or oxygen-free zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico since record-keeping began in 1985. Drought conditions in the country's midsection are largely believed to have directly resulted in the "dead zone's" smaller than average size (2,889 square miles). Read more related articles under "Water Quality," below, and in this earlier blog article.

Showcase, Short-term Farm Disaster Aid Package Passes House - Going Nowhere Fast
While the worst U.S. drought in 56 years intensified, late yesterday afternoon, House Republicans pushed through a largely showcase, short-term $383 million package of loans and grants for livestock producers and a limited number of farmers. The House disaster relief bill (HR 6233) focuses on providing loans and grants to producers of livestock and fruit trees impacted by the drought during the current (2012) Fiscal Year, and would pay for its $383 million price tag by capping the Conservation Stewardship Program and Environmental Quality Incentives Program during Fiscal Year 2013. While the bill will give farm state House Republicans political cover when they go home to face drought-stricken farmers, the prospects for its consideration by the Senate are slim and its likelihood of enactment into law effectively non-existent. To read details of the House bill, its prospects, and its relation to the comprehensive farm bill, see this article.

Former WI Governor Thompson locked in a three-way fight for Wisconsin’s GOP US Senate nomination http://wapo.st/RffYPz

August primaries can end careers of some US Reps; possibles include Akin, Clay, Carnahan (MO); Black (TN) http://bit.ly/RfnF8g

Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN-3) wins U.S. House seat primary in redrawn Tennessee district http://bit.ly/OFmwqF

Last Word -

"Like its politicians and war, society has the teenagers it deserves." - Joseph Priestley, who, on August 1, 1774, "discovered" oxygen, after conducting his most famous oxygen-generating experiment (heating mercuric oxide in an inverted glass container). He isolated an "air" that appeared to be completely new, and called his discovery "dephlogisticated air."